Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tatiane M. Silva. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Tatiane, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Has Covid resulted in any major changes to your business model?

COVID has affected the lives of virtually everyone in the world, including mine. Before COVID, all of our consultations were always in person, and I never dreamt of having assistants working remotely. Since then, our office still maintains our location in Downtown Miami where I have assistants who work from the office, but I also have assistants who work remotely as well. After doing this for about 3 years, I am extremely happy with how we have been able to maintain our efficiency and quality of work. I have also begun working remotely most of the time, which I believe has increased my productivity and quality of life. The fact that I do not have to be in traffic every single day for at least 2 hours per day, has made it possible for me to get more work done. Also, since COVID, our office has taken steps with our telephone provider, softwares, and our way of conducting business, to make sure we all have access to what we need in order to do our jobs in an efficient manner.

Since I am an immigration attorney, immigration offices have also made some changes since COVID, which affected our way to work. For example, prior to COVID, USCIS required us to submit original signatures on the applications, and clients had to either come to the office in person to sign the applications, or mail them to us. Since then, copies of signatures, as long as they are hand signed, are permitted. This has definitely changed the way we do business and handle cases.

Tatiane, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am an immigration attorney, and my office is located in Miami, FL, although we service clients all throughout the United States. Our office handles many types of different immigration cases, including family based petitions, deportation defense, VAWA, waivers, Special Immigrant Juvenile Petitions, naturalization, TPS, DACA, among others.

I am extremely proud of the work we do! I am proud not only of the results we get for our clients, especially in complex cases, which we often handle, but also due to the quality of the work we produce and the passion my team and I have to help our clients.

Immigration law is not one of the easiest types of law to practice. Not only because of the actual complexities of immigration law, but most importantly, because of the constant, never ending changes, especially when there is a new administration. Since the previous administration until now, there have been numerous changes, some terrible for my clients, and some that have helped thousands of people. It is not easy to keep up with all of that, which is why it is so important to be passionate about this work in order to do it well.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

I believe the most effective strategy I have used for growing our clientele involves two things: First, to be extremely honest and transparent with my clients and second, to deliver good results. From the time of my first consultation, I not only speak to clients in a language that I know they will understand, without using fancy legal terminology, but I am also extremely honest and straightforward. I explain what is the best option for the client, our fees, immigration’s fees, and give them all the necessary information. This way, if they retain us, they have made an informed decision. I have heard many times, from previous clients, and through our Google reviews, that they have always appreciated that.

Second, results are obviously very important in my line of work. We can give the best customer service to our clients by answering their questions, but if we do not deliver the results they expect, we will not be able to grow our clientele. Although I tell my clients that immigration’s policies are always subject to change and sometimes things are beyond my control, my team and I make sure that we go above and beyond for every single client, and treat their case as we would have treated our own.

Any advice for managing a team?

I am going to be honest, and team management is sometimes challenging for me. I am usually so concerned about delivering good results for my clients, trying to stay up to date with all of the changes in immigration law, and trying to effectively run my business, that team management becomes difficult. However, maintaining high team morale is very important to me. I am constantly reminding my team of how amazing they are, and how I would not be able to do what I do without them. I cannot even put in words how hard they work for every single client. Sometimes, I see they care more about certain cases than the client themselves. Also, something that I believe that has helped me a lot since the end of last year, was to make my Senior Paralegal my Office Manager. She helps tremendously with team management, and with her assistance, I have more time to dedicate to the clients.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.murraysilva.com
• Instagram: murraysilvalaw
• Facebook: Murray & Silva, P.A.
• Linkedin: Tatiane M. Silva, Esq.